Lauren W EDC 102H 9/15/2010 Family Life I’ve spent all my life in one house in the fast-growing, competitive, busy county of Loudoun. This was the basis for normalcy in my life. When I was young, I thought everyone went to school, got good grades, and then went off to college. From elementary school all the way through high school, my family has played a very important role in my education.
My younger brother, Robbie, and I attended Lowes Island Elementary school, located in a wealthy area of town. Everyday we would walk to the bus stop together with our mom and dog. I would eagerly hop on with my friend Julie, looking forward to the day ahead. After a long day at school, Robbie and I would take the bus to our stop and walk home with all of the neighbors. Our mom would let us play outside until dinner, she thought the imaginary games we came up with using our bikes and backyard sandbox were good exercise for both our minds and bodies. She would then call us in to wash up and have dinner – a home cooked meal every night – and we would then bring our homework down and sit at the kitchen table we had just cleared. Mom and Dad both patiently helped us if we didn’t understand something.
Mom was also an active member of the PTO, always attending meetings and running fundraising events. I would see her around school often, and was proud of it because all of my friends loved her. Many knew her as our Girl Scout troop leader. Her presence made me want to be as “perfect” as her. She always encouraged me, so I brought home the A’s she wanted and had grown to expect from me.
Middle school was different. Robbie was still attending Lowes Island and Eric, the youngest,, had just started there as well. Mom stayed back with them, still in the Lowes Island PTO, but also joining Seneca Ridge Middle School’s committee. I became slightly more involved on my friends and less dependent on my family. It was in middle school that my new friends and I started competing for the better grade. One day in seventh grade algebra, we had some homework problems that I had come home and asked my dad for help on. He went through and thoroughly, confidently explained the solution. The next day when I took it to the teacher it was, in fact, wrong. I showed my dad what the teacher had said and never asked him a math question again.
Dominion High School was a nice transition out of Middle school. I quickly became involved with the volleyball team and worked hard to maintain my life as a student-athlete. When I joined a travel team, my dad took on the supporting role while my mom took care of the boys. He drove me to and from my practices and tournaments, stayed up late to edit my papers, and helped me with ideas when I had physics projects to do. When I started missing a few days of school each month for volleyball, my grades slipped a tiny bit, from straight A’s to the occasional “B” and even a “C” slipped into two semesters. However, because both of my parents could see how hard I was working to manage my time and balance volleyball with schoolwork, neither scolded me. They had taught me to work as hard as possible and achieve all I can.
During these years in high school I knew of a few kids who dropped out, got expelled, or failed and had to repeat years. Some were gang members of MS13. This made me realize that I had grown up in a bubble until I got to high school. Looking back, I say that is a good thing because I had to achieve great standards just to fit in. I am so grateful to have grown up with both of my parents active in my life and the lives of my brothers. We were allowed freedom, and we were not forced to stay in the house and study all day. Extracurricular activities were encouraged. My parents understood the balance my brothers and I needed to be successful in the classroom. They both still care about my classes here at URI. I’ll strive to be like them when I become a parent, to help my children through their years of schooling yet to come.
Do you think it was easy for them to strike that balance? How did they support your sibliings' interests?
EDC 102H
9/15/2010
Family Life
I’ve spent all my life in one house in the fast-growing, competitive, busy county of Loudoun. This was the basis for normalcy in my life. When I was young, I thought everyone went to school, got good grades, and then went off to college. From elementary school all the way through high school, my family has played a very important role in my education.
My younger brother, Robbie, and I attended Lowes Island Elementary school, located in a wealthy area of town. Everyday we would walk to the bus stop together with our mom and dog. I would eagerly hop on with my friend Julie, looking forward to the day ahead. After a long day at school, Robbie and I would take the bus to our stop and walk home with all of the neighbors. Our mom would let us play outside until dinner, she thought the imaginary games we came up with using our bikes and backyard sandbox were good exercise for both our minds and bodies. She would then call us in to wash up and have dinner – a home cooked meal every night – and we would then bring our homework down and sit at the kitchen table we had just cleared. Mom and Dad both patiently helped us if we didn’t understand something.
Mom was also an active member of the PTO, always attending meetings and running fundraising events. I would see her around school often, and was proud of it because all of my friends loved her. Many knew her as our Girl Scout troop leader. Her presence made me want to be as “perfect” as her. She always encouraged me, so I brought home the A’s she wanted and had grown to expect from me.
Middle school was different. Robbie was still attending Lowes Island and Eric, the youngest,, had just started there as well. Mom stayed back with them, still in the Lowes Island PTO, but also joining Seneca Ridge Middle School’s committee. I became slightly more involved on my friends and less dependent on my family. It was in middle school that my new friends and I started competing for the better grade. One day in seventh grade algebra, we had some homework problems that I had come home and asked my dad for help on. He went through and thoroughly, confidently explained the solution. The next day when I took it to the teacher it was, in fact, wrong. I showed my dad what the teacher had said and never asked him a math question again.
Dominion High School was a nice transition out of Middle school. I quickly became involved with the volleyball team and worked hard to maintain my life as a student-athlete. When I joined a travel team, my dad took on the supporting role while my mom took care of the boys. He drove me to and from my practices and tournaments, stayed up late to edit my papers, and helped me with ideas when I had physics projects to do. When I started missing a few days of school each month for volleyball, my grades slipped a tiny bit, from straight A’s to the occasional “B” and even a “C” slipped into two semesters. However, because both of my parents could see how hard I was working to manage my time and balance volleyball with schoolwork, neither scolded me. They had taught me to work as hard as possible and achieve all I can.
During these years in high school I knew of a few kids who dropped out, got expelled, or failed and had to repeat years. Some were gang members of MS13. This made me realize that I had grown up in a bubble until I got to high school. Looking back, I say that is a good thing because I had to achieve great standards just to fit in. I am so grateful to have grown up with both of my parents active in my life and the lives of my brothers. We were allowed freedom, and we were not forced to stay in the house and study all day. Extracurricular activities were encouraged. My parents understood the balance my brothers and I needed to be successful in the classroom. They both still care about my classes here at URI. I’ll strive to be like them when I become a parent, to help my children through their years of schooling yet to come.
Do you think it was easy for them to strike that balance? How did they support your sibliings' interests?